Medicare on a 457 visa

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Guest westie1972

Guest westie1972

Hi my husband is getting a 457 visa from his employer and we hope to move to Adelaide with our 3 children mid November 2010. Will be be able to apply for Medicare and also what is the best private healthcare to get for our family? Thank you in advance

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Guest guest3462

Guest guest3462

Hi you will get reciprocal agreement Medicare which is basically all you need. This gives you full public hospital treatment and bulk billing for gp for kids. If yu go to gp you pay the fee then claim back from Medicare and it costs only $24 then. For private health insurance I have found mutual community to be much cheaper than any other for our 457 visa paying only $17 A week for extras (dental, optician, physio etc) you will also be exempt from the Medicare levy until you get pr visas .

HTH

JCx

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Guest sarahtwinn82

Guest sarahtwinn82

Register for medicare as soon as you arrive and also your tax file number. We use a company caled IMANS for extra health insurance, they specialise in 457 visa holders. You can just google it if your interested. Send me a message when you arrive if you need a friend.

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Guest Daisy Duke

Guest Daisy Duke

My partner and I are due to come over April next year, and are just about to complete our visa app. I will be travelling on the 457 one and my partner will be travelling with me. I have been advised by the agency we are working with, that we will need private health insurance. Can you give me some websites so I can get some quotes please? Also, does anyone have a rough idea how long this class of visa takes to process? I have been told up to 3 months, but that it should be quite quick as we don't have a complex case.

Any advice would be gratefully welcomed.

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Guest guest3462

Guest guest3462

We registered for our tax file numbers online while still in the UK so they were waiting for us when we arrived, but we had already sorted a rental and had an aussie address. Daisy Duke, our visa took about 14 weeks in all I think to be processed, but that was because I failed the medical first time around. (Ladies make sure you are in the middle of your monthly cycle when you have your medicals as they treat haematuria as renal failure!!) The most popular insurance companies here are mutual community, medibank and for the 457 visa,Imans. Costs will vary greatly depending on the level of cover you want, for example medibank quoted us $350 a month for full hospital cover!!! I don't think that is necessary as the public hospitals are much the same as NHS waiting times, so unless you have a medical condition that requires regular medical review I'd stick to the extra cover. (my opinion!!!)

I would think that if you apply now you will have loads of time to get everything sorted, but make sure you get enough time on your visa to allow for the time still in the UK, cos they run from time of issue, not time of validation!! You can apply for PR as soon as you like on this visa though, which if you are planning on staying in Oz permenantly I would strongly advise doing. (The nightmares that we have had/still having don't beggar belief!!!)

April isn't that far off, so it might be useful for you to start getting shipping quotes now, so you can get a good idea of how much money you will need to fork out just before you leave, it is a very expensive time and it really stings the pocket if you don't prepare well in advance! (We spent about $18,000 when we first arrived, but bought all our furniture here and 2 cars along with 2 months rent up front)

Also look at www.realestate.com.au so you can get a feel of the housing availability and cost for rentals. There is also a good link on there so you can look at some of the suburbs and see where you might want to live.

There is so much to consider, more than I have mentioned here, but you have time to look at it all and be ready when the time comes. If you need any advice just shout, there are loads of great people on here who have much more useful info than I can offer, Tyke and Roo1 offer great short term arrival accomodation for instance and look at www.adelaidebound.com.au it has loads and loads of fantastic info.

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Guest sturg

Guest sturg

I am here on a 457 & it's part of your employers agreement with DIAC to provide private health cover. In fact, it's a stipulation of the visa. My cover is fairly basic, but nonetheless it has to be provided.

Check again with your employer.

Good luck

Paul

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Guest sarahtwinn82

Guest sarahtwinn82

I am here on a 457 & it's part of your employers agreement with DIAC to provide private health cover. In fact, it's a stipulation of the visa. My cover is fairly basic, but nonetheless it has to be provided.

Check again with your employer.

Good luck

Paul

The regulations changed recently, im not sure if it was this year or last, but its no longer the employers responsibility to provide the insurance cover. The visa applicant has to provide proof that they have insurance cover to a certain standard when they apply for the visa.

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Guest Mitchell

Guest Mitchell

I'm on a 457 and have a reciprical medicare card. I'm fortunate in that my employer is topping this up for me until I get PR. Warning! It took me 7 days from application to being granted my visa in August this year so organise yourselves as early as possible if you want to move quickly.

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Guest Helenibuk

Guest Helenibuk

I'm on a 457 and the only thing I can add to the comments above is in regard to health care for dependants. My daughter required a filling and a brace for her teeth which I could no longer postpone. The whole thing has cost me nearly $7000 and I will only be able to claim back about $2000 from my company health insurance.

The company insurance also didn't cover eye tests for her etc etc. Before you leave make sure the policies cover everyone travelling and you've had all your checks on the NHS!

Good luck with it.

PS Interesting comment that GP bulk billing is only for kids. I've used it a couple of times and not been charged.